By Terri J. Garofalo
Queen City? Where the heck is that? Oh yeah, Cincinnati. My knowledge of the mid-west is about as extensive as that of nuclear physics. However, I did quite well in geography, so I could identify its vicinity. Fellow paranormal investigator, Rich Scanlon of Everyday Paranormal Kentucky asked me to bring Entities-R-Us, Ghost Hunter Comic to the Queen City Paranormal Conference or Paracon (ghost hunter lingo).
It was a great way to market my new book, “Entities-R-Us, Ghost Hunter Comic, Paranormal Humor for the Ghost Hunter’s Soul,” as well as a chance to hobnob with paranormal celebrities and network. An even bigger hook was a chance to investigate the venue, the Cincinnati Music Hall. It’s not everyday one gets to ghost hunt such an enormous, history-laden building with some noteworthy paranormallers like Carl Johnson who was formerly TAPS (The Atlantic Paranormal Society) demonologist appearing on Ghost Hunters, SyFy, and Brad and Barry Klinge of Everyday Paranormal who hail from Discovery Channel’s Ghost Lab.
I agreed to fly out from New York and scope the scene. Connecting a couple of flights in some paper towel tubes with wings and seats landed me in Kentucky where Cinci keeps its airport. (Must be cheaper to keep an airport in Kentucky…) On arrival, I settled in to my hermetically-sealed motel room. Since the window did not open EVER, I assumed the same air was present since the 70s when it was built. I was curious how the oxygen held up as I was still breathing. At least it was clean. Still, I considered it might have been cost effective to saddle up my horse and pack a tent!
Rich and Tyler Terry, also Everyday Paranormal Kentucky, whisked me away from my humble digs. And we set out to pick up Carl Johnson and his side-kick Dena Petrazini. Carl was negotiating nasal tragedy with a newly materialized cold. Dena was all revved up and ready for a photo op since I had my camera available. We took some “rock star” shots in front of the gorgeous stained glass Jesus window in their room.
Dena Rocks out with Jesus.
Once the swallows were gathered, we migrated to the restaurant to join the other V.I.P.s for food and drink. It became clear Jake Cunningham of Everyday Paranormal Kentucky had let the cat out of the bag there were celebrity paranormallers showing up. So, the place was packed and there was no room for the V.I.P.s in question. We were all put on table scavenging duty, placing our butts in strategically abandoned locations to secure a place to eat.
Carl Johnson, Terri Garofalo, Beau of the Scooby Mystery Machine and his girlfriend.
Soon the rest arrived. We were joined by paranormal author Jeff Belanger, magician Aaron Houdini, Brad and Barry Klinge, Beau proud owner of the replica of the Scooby Doo van – the Mystery Machine, Kristy of the Animal Planet show “Haunting,” and Syd Shultz who runs the TAPS Boot Camp.
The first order of business was to apologize to Brad Klinge in person for drawing him shorter than his brother in an Entities-R-Us Guest Draw. I often draw paranormal celebrities in as guest stars. It turns out that Brad is a good four inches taller than his brother… which makes him enormous. So as payback, I posed for a picture with him, which totally exacerbated my shortness.
Brad Klinge of Ghost Lab and Terri Garofalo of Entities-R-Us. Yadda, yadda, I feel really short now!
Jeff Belanger is the author of several books about hauntings, ghosts, etc. He also heads up ghostvillage.com His sense of humor is natural, bubbling up like a paranormal Jim Carey. I was fortunate enough to trade books with him. He is conveniently a fan of Entities-R-Us. Jeff borrowed my camera to have a flash duel with another camera. Both survived the incident AND I got a couple amusing picts out of it.
"Camera Opus 1" by Jeff Belanger, photographer extraordinaire.
Goofing around with Jeff Belanger and Syd Schultz.
A few drinks later (and some awesome burgers) and the bar owner was strapped into Aaron Houdini’s straight jacket. His unsuccessful attempts at escape left us in stitches with the thought perhaps we could scarper without paying the tab. Klinge Brothers were commandeered to suit up Aaron Houdini in the straight jacket next. The only way he escapes from this is to dislocate his shoulder on a non-drywall portion of a wall.) I suppose he’s put a hole in some folk’s drywall before and has learned an expensive lesson. Talk about occupational hazard…) He accomplished the dislocation, then proceed to weasel his way out of the jacket in short order.
Aaron Houdini gets suited up in the straight jacket by the Klinge Brothers.
Left to right: Rich Scanlon, Carl Johnson, Dena Petrazini, Brad Klinge, Barry Klinge, Terri Garofalo, Jeff Belanger, Jake Cunningham, Aaron Houdini, Syd Schultz.
We wrapped up the night late. It would be my only chance at any hardcore sleep since we had to ghost hunt the following night after the paracon. Stupid me gets up at 6:00 am… I re-invent coffee by mixing the regular and the decaf packets to secure two cups.
It worked to my advantage that my ride to the show was late. I got to doze a bit and raid the neighboring convenience store for some snick-snacks. It would prove I would be on the paranormal diet… peanuts, coffee and pizza (if you could get it).
I arrived at the Music Hall, a grand old 19thcentury building that looks like a gothic cathedral. The ballroom where the vendors and speakers were located was a vast vaulted venue, ornate with expansive wood floors. I set up next to a ghost tour group. It was a prime location for listening in on the lectures.
Cincinnati Music Hall - courtesy of their website.
I embarked on the usual “shameless” marketing campaign dropping off the Entities-R-Us business card and introducing myself to the rest of the vendors. With the Mystery Machine fellow’s dowsing rods I attempted to find water or spirits. Those things really move in your hand. Each time I tried to recreate it by shifting my position, it did not work the same as when they freely shot sideways on their own accord. Perhaps I’m no longer a skeptic? I even got to handle some Big Foot tracks and see some compelling evidence of werewolf tracks from a sighting in Ohio by a park ranger, who remains completely freaked out to this day.
The rest of my day was spent talking comics and signing books and prints. I met so many interesting people from all walks of life. Many recognized Entities-R-Us, which was comforting as a newer webcomic. I was even had a Guest Draw request from the Big Foot folks. I offered a raffle of a Guest Draw to the lucky winner. The lucky winner will be drawn into a color Sunday version of Entities appearing on the web and they will receive a signed color copy.
Situated near the stage, I enjoyed the discussions of Father Jack on demonic forces.
We wrapped up, packed up and retreated upstairs to a conference room. Here Brad and Barry Klinge gave a talk showing evidence, discussing the paranormal and Ghost Lab, the TV show. They soon burst into song. Brad snagged the baby grand nearby and Barry took up the mike to sing “Let It Be,” by the Beatles. It was hysterical, especially when Barry mixed up the verse causing Brad to holler at him. It made for a good time and a relaxed atmosphere before the impending investigation.
Roger, our tour guide, took the bulk of us on tour around the building before the big ghost hunt. He showed us the hotspots and regaled us with ghost stories. We trooped through the main entrance glittering with multi-faceted chandeliers, columns topped relief sculpted theatrical faces. All of this set the stage for a haunting good time. We visited the workshop where Roger, our guide told of a “shrouded” small figure seen scooting between two people. Also in this vicinity the water in the bathrooms would turn on. This was supposedly a former employee who would do this.
Inside the Cinci Music Hall - SWEET!
Venturing into the expansive basement full of creepy props like coffins and various stage related items, we were treated to secret holes which led to the portion of the building that was once used as an insane asylum. We were led into a dirt-floored portion where some work was being done. The place was built on an old potters field. It was reported they had found human bones here. Most of the bodies were removed and reburied, but they apparently missed a few. Here a young girl in ragged clothing once appeared to watch an electrician work on the wiring each day he worked in the Music Hall. It is said anyone who takes a piece of the brick from this area is compelled to return it. Apparently, some nasty energy comes with it.
Brad and Barry Klinge joined us for the remainder of the tour. We all filed back into the basement to begin investigating. Some of us moved back to the woodshop to see what we could entice out of the darkness. While there seemed some activity, it was mostly quiet, so we trundled up into the theater balcony.
The theater is a vast open vestige from the 1800s which is home to a chandelier the size of a couple of vans that used to raise and lower at each performance. Looking down on the stage from the third tier was breathtaking. The stage is supposed to be visited by an apparition on occasion. Sounds of music are sometimes heard. Here we decided to camp and do an EVP session. EVP or electronic voice phenomena is voices a recording device will pick up, but we are unlikely to hear as it is out of range of normal human hearing. We each set out our digital voice recorders at different parts of the theater. Each of us began to call out to whatever spirits were present. “Who is with us tonight? Are you here for the show? Did you work here? What is your name?” These were some of the questions asked.
Soon we were hearing voices, but not of an EVP nature. The Klinge brothers have their own way of drawing out the ghosts at hand. It’s called provoking. They were under the stage with a few of the other investigators. There was a fair amount of hollering emanating from below the stage flooring and we could hear it distinctly. It was pretty amusing. The maddening crowd worked its way up from below onto the top of the stage where they elected to settle in the orchestra chairs. Brad wandered into the box seats. Carl and Dena were on the right side of the upper balcony, Rich and his crew were to the right of the center upper balcony. Aaron Houdini was in the center upper balcony while Kat and I stood left of center. We then embarked on a large scale EVP session.
It was not long, when I spotted Dena sitting in the upper aisle. When I called out to confirm where she was, she stood up, but NOT where I expected her to be. So, WHO was that up there? None of the physical investigators… Soon we saw dark shadows flitting on the right side of the upper balcony. Then one appeared to be passing back and forth behind Brad Klinge in the box seats.
In attempt to draw them out we provoked. Provoking for me involves some minor sarcasm. For the Klinges it involves outright threats! They demanded a response. At one point Carl thought he saw a couple of spirits running away. We heard a door shut off stage. Kat thought she saw a guy dressed like a conductor walk up to the stage as if to take the podium for a concert. Barry and a few others on the stage heard a tuba play a couple notes.
Carl turned up the heat saying the place was going to be torn down (which wasn’t true). Brad was annoyed at the hide-and-seek shadow person flitting unseen behind him. So, he barreled out of the box seats and roared about taking down the chairs in prep for demolition. Nothing significant occurred. I presume the ghosts all retreated to the basement where it was quiet.
Our next sojourn was the freight elevator with Carl Johnson. We shut the door much to the disconcert of one of our claustrophobic ghost hunters. Carl attempted to quietly draw out any energies that were there. Tales have been told of screams being heard. In fact, one of the women who work at the music hall was the granddaughter of a fellow who was crushed by the elevator. He was not killed, but severely injured. The screams heard are likely residual energy. This occurs when a significant emotional event occurs and leaves an imprint. Much of the Civil War ghosts at Gettysburg are likely residual energy. This sort of haunting is not aware of us and will not interact. An intelligent haunting is aware and will interact with people in the physical. With no activity showing up, we were treated to stories from the set of Ghost Hunters, the SyFy TV show Carl was a part of for a time. That was almost as entertaining as having a rash of poltergeist activity show up (which it didn’t).
After convincing Dena she was on the edge of a big drop-off at the elevator edge and extracting a laugh at her expense, we wrapped up the night. All in all it was a great investigation with a fun bunch of people. It was back to the hermetically sealed motel for two hours sleep before my flight out in the paper towel tubes. Little did I know I’d be flying in drinking straw for first connection! It was still a jet, but this time I had a whole seat row of one to myself! That was the best flight I’ve had though. My view was astounding. I even got to see the Music Hall from the air. A more substantial tube took me back to Stewart Airport where the Shawangunk Mountain winds buffeted the plane into the valley of the airport where we landed with a twisting thud. I was back home and ready to review the evidence I gathered.
I still need to hit the EVP evidence… to be continued!
Tj
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